Revision as of 21:39, 15 September 2011

This article contains fan speculation.There is no solid evidence for or against some parts of this article.

The map of Japan showing the four main Japanese Pokémon regions.

The designs of five of the major Pokémon regions - Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova - are strikingly similar in geography and demographics to regions in the real world. The first four regions are based on smaller regions in Japan, while Unova is based on the New York metropolitan area.

Hoenn

Hoenn is based on the southernmost parts of Japan - Kyūshū and Okinawa - with the latter highly condensed. (The distance between the northernmost and southernmost points of Okinawa is about as large as the distance between the northernmost and southernmost points of Honshu, the mainland of Japan.)

Underneath the water's surface, ancient stone structures were found to be artificially created

Sinnoh

Sinnoh has been said to be an island like Hoenn, rather than a peninsula. It is based on the northernmost major island of Japan, Hokkaido. Part of Sakhalin (Japanese: 樺太 Karafuto) and Kunashir Island (Japanese: 国後島 Kunashiri Island), territories which are in dispute between Russia and Japan, are also included.

Side regions

This section is incomplete.Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.

Landscape

While the above locations are meant to correspond to the different regions of Japan, great liberties were taken with the design of their landscape. Some of the designers have admitted to drawing inspiration from real-world locations outside Japan, especially with locations shown in Pokémon movies.

While not mentioned specifically, Pastoria has some similarities with Boston and the surrounding area. A good portion of the city is built on fens, there are multiple national parks in the suburbs of outside the city, specifically in towns like Duxbury, Massachusetts and Marshfield, Massachusetts.

A village in the eleventh movie Giratina and the Sky Warrior, which was nearly destroyed by a glacier, is based on a town in Norway, which is threatened by the possibility of the mountain eroding into the fjord.

Xatu's FireRed, Silver, and SoulSilver Pokédex entries mention its association with mysticism in South America.

Poliwrath's Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum Pokédex entries mention its ability to swim the Pacific Ocean. Also, it is to be noted that the direction of its spirals depends on their geographical location.

Delibird's Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald Pokédex entries explain that a Delibird helped a famous explorer reach the top of Mt. Everest.